# My "Tambolaka" Review for the "Common Man"



## PinkFloydFan (Oct 1, 2009)

Good Evening Folks.

Today seemed like a good day to do a review of the Infamous Tambolaka Leaf that Jeff sent me a nice baggy of. Once again I would like to thank him for his generosity and appreciate the work he put into re-hydrating and prepping it to send out to me along with the other brothers here I see he sent some too  I know this probably should and could get moved into the review section.. But most of the Tambo leaf discussion is here. So I figured I would drop it here as well.. ( Mr. Blaylock , feel free sir , if necessary)










Upon really grabbing a handful of this stuff and taking a few deep sniffs of it in my palm, It smell very earthy and organic.. Pure.. Like a clean and nicely aged fermented tobacco. Nothing fake, flavored , cased , blended or anything here. This is simply the raw real deal of the aged tobacco world. 
Out of the bag on some paper I dumped some and the look sorta reminded me of the Mulch my wife orders every Spring to have her cheap labor ( Yours Truely..) Spread in the flower beds. There were some rather large nuggets in the bag that I felt I would need to break up a little more to get a nice pack and burn going. 
( PS. I HATE spreading mulch.. But that has not effect on this review. LOL ) Out of Bag Below.










After a little more breaking , crumbling and actually pulling apart the nuggets into small leafy pieces.. I got this.










I picked my Savinelli 320 Stubby to test ride this stuff in. I just cleaned it yesterday and put a new filter in. ( You'll note my makeshift pipe rest.. LOL, a triangle shaped glass ashtray I filled with leftover crsuhed coral I have from my Saltwater Reef Tank.. It comfortably rests and shape , size or style pipe as the crushed coral just conforms to what it is holding. )










On the pre-light , It did not swell up much at all. A few of the first puffs were nice and as echoed here, reminiscent of a nice Maduro / Ligero leaf cigar. Like the Argenese ML3.










After a tamp or 2, The bowl was burning nicely.. I was getting quite a bit of peppery spice on the retrohale and I could feel this had a generous dose of Vitamin N to it.










As I slowly worked this bowl, I could feel the buzz start to kick in and my mind started to wander nicely. LOL. I opened the Tambo thread and imagined how or if some of the local older gents in his hometown could roll and smoke this stuff in Cig form.. This is some serious leaf. and it is not by an means to be chimneyed down.. I slowed up a bit.










The room note was very cigarish, But did not stick around like a cigar. The smoke was rich and dense.. More pepper, leather, maybe some dark walnut or something was around and came in as I reached the halfway point. I was humming good from the Nicotine, But nothing crazy.. No sweats or dizzyness. Again I pondered .. Could fire this up multiple times a day? Make it a regular smoke? Probably.. But it would take some adjusting. The taste is good. It would really compliment a nice Rum or Scotch.. But for now.. All I had was some green tea.. LOL and dinner would be ready soon.










In closing, this tobacco is very nice. Very Rich, and burned well. I think I rushed it a bit and may have been better off setting it down a few and coming back to a re-light. The flavor is something I enjoyed.. Especially the pepper out the nose.. Enough to clear your sinuses .

It is really not like anything I have smoked in a pipe before. But very close to something rolled in a cigar. This may be the cigar lovers answer to something you can enjoy and put down to come back and enjoy later.










Very Little dottle. Nice white ash, indicative of a calcium rich soil I think. A clean and steady burn ...overall very nice and unique experience.

I will enjoy another bowl after I hit some of the blind taste samples up next. 
Not today though.. LOL

Thanks again Jeff. and If you havent tried Tambolaka.. Give it a try.. Especially if you enjoy a nice dark leafed stogie once in a while like I do.

Thanks for reading my review.

Peace and God Bless.

Vin


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## Stench (Aug 17, 2009)

Excellent review....got me interested!! I'm going to have to try some!


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## PinkFloydFan (Oct 1, 2009)

399... and cheating a bit.. 
Vin


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## PinkFloydFan (Oct 1, 2009)

BAM.... 400th POST..

The most I have put on any forum.. Damn you guys are lucky. LOL
:banana::banana::banana::banana:

Vin


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## Cigary (Oct 19, 2007)

Good review. The cigars are great I can only imagine the pipe tobacco.


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## Jack Straw (Nov 20, 2008)

Nice review as always Vin.


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## redbeerd (May 4, 2010)

nice pics man!


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## GlassEye (Oct 25, 2009)

Nice review.
I really want some now, I just dont want to buy the large quantity that seems to be necessary. I smoke like once a week, it would take decades to get through a log of that stuff(it would get some nice age though).

EDIT: 100 posts! finally.


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## s_vivo (Jan 31, 2010)

Great review, can't wait to try mine out.


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## dajones (May 29, 2009)

What might you blend it with? A lil perique?


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## FiveStar (Jan 7, 2010)

you took the words outta my mouth brother! I really like this baccy for the very reason you just said: It's like a cigar and a pipe had a baby! Great sweet dark spicy nicotiney goodness! I feel this stuff has something going on close to Irish flake in that regard. Awesome!


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## Twiggz (Feb 15, 2009)

I still don't think I could handle that stuff... Irsh Flake gave me the sweats the first time I tried it. Haha Thats what I get for never smoking cigs or cigars before I started the pipe. 

Thanks for the review Vinny, you made me want to try some now.


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## Seekeroftruth (Jan 28, 2010)

Great review. I have been smoking way to much of this stuff. mmmmmm.


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## owaindav (Mar 7, 2010)

Awesome review Vinny! Good stuff. I love the pipe rest too. Great idea!


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## Diodon nepheligina (Nov 5, 2009)

Nice job, Vin. You clearly spend some time on your reviews. Well written and photographed. Much appreciated, brother.


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## commonsenseman (Apr 18, 2008)

Great review Vin! Also congrats on 400 posts!

Keep posting away!


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## tambo_cigars (Dec 11, 2009)

FiveStar said:


> you took the words outta my mouth brother! I really like this baccy for the very reason you just said: It's like a cigar and a pipe had a baby! Great sweet dark spicy nicotiney goodness! I feel this stuff has something going on close to Irish flake in that regard. Awesome!


 Hi from Bali,
Love sharing all the great comments with my staff here in Indonesia (sometimes after a little translating) but I have to give the prize to Landis here for the comment, "It's like a cigar and a pipe had a baby! ". That one will definitely go into the Tambo hall of fame! :bounce:Thanks to all and, smoke on, Balibob


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## tambo_cigars (Dec 11, 2009)

Hey Vin,
Happy 400th+ and thanks for a most detailed and well photographed review post for Tambolaka Pipe. Smoke on, BB


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## cigllortars (Mar 16, 2010)

BTW I believe Magnesium is what makes ash white, not calcium (plus that would taste horrible)


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## alfredo_buscatti (May 13, 2010)

New to the site.

Could someone direct me to the review for Tambolaka?

Thanks,

Alfredo


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## Uelrindru (Mar 16, 2010)

I guess i'm gonna have to fire up another bowl of this this weekend hearing all this good stuff really made me want it again. Great review!


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## rlaliberty (Jul 6, 2008)

About to smoke a bowl of this in a cob. It will only be my second....stuff is a bit strong for me.


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## sounds7 (Mar 25, 2009)

I wouldn't mind trying this. Where can a common man get some?


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## Brinson (Oct 28, 2007)

sounds7 said:


> I wouldn't mind trying this. Where can a common man get some?


Tambolaka Pipe Tobacco 100 gr [PT-001] - $10.00 : The TNT Shoppe, Online Tobacconist

Most of the people here got theres in a group buy so it was cheaper, but you can buy it straight from the tambo site above, I just think shipping from indonesia is alot (like $20?), hence why we did a group buy.


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## commonsenseman (Apr 18, 2008)

sounds7 said:


> I wouldn't mind trying this. Where can a common man get some?


If you send me a pm, I'm sure we could work something out.


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## sounds7 (Mar 25, 2009)

commonsenseman said:


> If you send me a pm, I'm sure we could work something out.


PM coming


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## sounds7 (Mar 25, 2009)

Much like the original poster, I want to say thanks to Jeff for introducing me to this highly unusual but tasty smoke. Mighty nice of you to send it my way man!


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